I live across from the pool, diagonally. In the summer the pool is very well used. Whenever there are children there - small to teen - it seems like there is one that stands out because he or she screams throughout the time there. There is one there now, screaming hoarsely. At one point I actually heard an adult telling this person, who appears to be a young girl, to go home or be quiet. Yet she still screams. As the summer wears on my nerves fray.

Where I live, one of the children used to act like that--this was when he was about four--his brother & their friends would often play at the end of the grass & sidewalk right by our balconies, and the youngster would holler whenever he wanted them to listen to him, or whenever he wanted his way--a real squeaky wheel. I dealt with it, though it took a little effort & self-control (and diplomacy).

When I was a kid, our house was back to back with another house that had a pool my parents referred to as 'the Pacific ocean'--it was a pretty good-sized above-ground pool, and the family was always having lots of friends & relatives over for parties, barbeques, etc. There was always lots of activity, and I think it annoyed my parents (who are pretty tolerant people), because this would go on until quite late, and was pretty boisterous.

I think it's nothing but good to pump up the memories. Now that you mention it, I have other memories of pools from when I was young. The summer in upper Michigan is very short. I never made it through the summer able to swim well. I would start a class and reach the "intermediate" level, and then swimming was over for the year. I would start over, pretty much, the next year, or else not take a class at all.

We lived within a few blocks of Lake Superior. One of my best memories of my childhood is walking down to sit on the rocks looking out over the lake, which looks like an ocean (except there are no tides; waves yes, tides no), a very clean ocean, in all kinds of weather. I can remember sitting there when it was getting dark and it was all the more special. It gave me the sense I get now when I take the time to sit and look at the ocean; that it is timeless and my troubles are small, will drown in this water that will live so much longer than I will.

Childhood was not, for the most part, a happy time for me. It was reflective, though, in its way.

Thank you. I too feel there is something eternal in these elements. It gives me some sense of stability.

I go back and forth on the blue thing. I do tend to prefer the blue, the Costco, over the red, sometimes really specifically. Yet I know I wouldn't buy any groceries if I went by this criterium. So I didn't look at the site. but I will.

I agree with you about not getting carried away to the point of not being able to find anything to buy--but I also think the site is interesting in that it has a feedback section, like many other websites, and, as I read through the entries, I found the responses of those who really disagree with the whole idea really telling.

The anti-BuyBlue folks ranged from the ones who denigrated the whole idea & predicted that it would not last (these were posted in February--I was reading this for the first time today), to those who took the trouble to complain that the site was based on hate and divisivness.

(laughing) Sometimes people will go on the attack to defend their own interests. It may be too much trouble for a person to choose to frequent businesses that support Democratic candidates. So some people will attack the idea rather than admit they're lazy. I am not saying this is a great idea, this buy blue thing, but I do see that element in it.

I prefer to support businesses that take care of their employees and that don't exploit workers somewhere else in the world. There are very few of them, either "red" or "blue", sad to say.

A nice option for me is Trader Joe's. It's listed as a 50% contributor. But what's more important to me is that it does offer good benefits, promotes from within, encourages individuality (I've seen instances in my local store of some pretty funny stuff), pays decently. Not everything they sell is hand-raised organically by well-fed and paid farmers, but a great deal more of it is than at other markets. TJ's is non-union but offers good benefits, a compromise.

What is funny to me that comes from your observation about the discussions on that web site is that it is so typical of "liberals" to reach out and try to embrace everything. It's what makes us what we are and yet it keeps us back, too.